In my lifetime, suggesting that Barcelona could compete with Paris as 1) a place to visit and 2) a place to live, would have been ridiculous. Talking 1960, 1970 …

In 2012, it no longer is a ridiculous notion.

From the perspective of sitting in a lovely restored apartment in Barcelona, after another beautiful day ahead of a mild night, let’s compare and contrast.

Barcelona has better weather than does Paris. Warm, dry summers; mild, slightly rainy winters — Barcelona beats Paris on the meteorological front, and it’s not close. In some years, Paris doesn’t really have a summer. Just a time of long wet days. Barcelona is basically Europe’s Los Angeles, for weather.

Barcelona is less expensive, certainly to visit. A good restaurant meal can be had here for less than 20 euros (about $26), a rarity in Paris. Hotels are more reasonable. So are apartments. Paris apartments rival Manhattan in cost.

Barcelona has a better location, right on the Mediterranean. With weather like Southern California’s coasts.

And Barcelona is a better sports city. Paris almost doesn’t care about sports. I have written that it is the least sports-oriented big city I’ve ever been in. Barcelona, meanwhile, has a certain football club for which Lionel Messi plays, a strong basketball team, all sorts of aquatic sports …

Paris, however, has more sights. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, Sacre Coeur … Barcelona can put up a fight with the Sagrada Familia, Las Ramblas, Placa de Catalunya, the Mediterranean beaches …

But it’s the second and third tiers of activities that give Paris an edge. The fifth-best museum. The third-best church. The fourth-best park. Paris seems to win for depth of activities, it seems to me. Paris has something interesting almost everywhere inside the peripherique. Barcelona is not there. (And which city is?)

Barcelona is a good restaurant town, but Paris … c’mon. It’s not a fair fight. We have been here two nights and had very nice meals, and expect more, and paella is a great dish. But a humble Paris bistro generally will be better than an above-average restaurant here. Although I suppose it’s a matter of taste.

Paris is generally easier to get to. Every airline wants to fly there, and it seems as if most do. Getting to Barcelona … much more difficult. Unless you are taking off from Europe, don’t count on a direct flight to Barcelona.

Paris has a Disneyland.

I don’t have firm numbers for this, just a feeling from the media, but Paris seems to be in better economic shape than is Barcelona. All of Spain is struggling at the moment. Unemployment is something like 25 percent. And people with money trouble often are unhappy people. More of this here than in Paris, I believe. (Again, inside the peripherique.)

Given, it’s a bit pointless to argue which is the better city to visit or to live in: Both are great cities. Paris has been considered one for centuries. Barcelona was once, and then it wasn’t, but now it is again, certainly since the 1992 Olympics.

But if we give out a gold medal for a winner …Paris remains at the top of the podium in the mind of this judge. And the masses seem to be of the same mind — Paris remains the world’s most visited city, with 30 million visitors per year.